Electronically controlled gas-powered guns for firing paintballs

ABSTRACT

An improved electronically controlled pneumatically operated paintball gun having more efficient air usage by means of a pneumatic piston valve with a directional tube vent. This pneumatic piston valve works on direct air pressure to open and close very quickly. The pneumatic piston valve has one moving part called the “piston valve”. The piston valve works as a double acting cylinder. At one end of the piston valve is a seal that presses up against a valve seat. When low pressure air is applied to the opposite side of the piston valve assembly, the force created from air pressure forces the piston seal against the valve seat, closing a high-pressure chamber. When low pressure air is allowed to be released, force created by air pressure shifts the valve and forces the seal away from the valve seat. When the valve is opened, air is released from the high pressure chamber into a directional tube positioned directly behind the paintball, forcing the air to travel in a straight line before the air impacts the paintball. After the ball has been fired, low-pressure air is again transferred back to the original side of the piston, forcing the seal and valve seat closed once again. A pneumatic valve controls the flow of low-pressure air to the piston valve assembly. The time needed to transfer air through the pneumatic valve is adjustable through a circuit board.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates generally to gas-powered guns and morespecifically to guns for firing paintballs.

2. Background Art

Guns capable of firing paintballs by use of pressurized gas have beenknown for a number of years and they are commonly used for recreationalsports such as survival or “war” games. The paintballs fired by theseguns generally comprise a gelatin shell with a colored liquid or viscoussubstance in the interior. These paintballs are designed to burst uponimpact with a target and thereby create a visible mark on the target.

Up until recently the firing mechanisms in paintball guns have generallybeen mechanical in nature. An example of such a gun is disclosed in U.S.Pat. No. 5,349,939 issued Sep. 27, 1994 to Perrone.

Recently, electronically operated paintball guns have come into use. Onesuch paintball gun is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,881,707 issued Mar.16, 1999 to Gardner, Jr. The grip of the gun has an electrical switchcapable of activating a launching sequence. An electrical control unitis housed within the body of the gun and a grip and can directpressurized gas flow between the pneumatic components of the gun inorder to load, cock and fire the gun. The electrical control unitincludes an electrical power source which activates an electrical timingcircuit when the electrical switch is closed and also activates twoelectrically operated pneumatic flow distribution devices. Upon closureof the switch, the control unit causes a projectile to be loaded intothe launching mechanism by actuation of the first pneumatic flowdistribution device. A paintball is fired when the timing circuitactuates the second flow distribution device to release gas from astorage chamber into the launching mechanism.

Another electronically activated gun is described in U.S. Pat. No.6,003,504 issued to Rice, et al. on Dec. 21, 1999. This gun employsfirst and second gas pressure regulators with the first capable ofproviding high gas pressure in a first chamber of the gun. The secondregulator is connected between this first chamber and a second chamberand maintains a lower working pressure in the second chamber. A controlvalve receives gas under pressure from the second chamber and directs itselectively to a ram slidably mounted in a cylinder. The ram is moved bygas pressure between a retracted position and a forward position whereit opens a valve to allow high pressure gas to flow from the firstchamber to the barrel to fire a paintball. The guns's trigger operates amicroswitch which is part of an electronic control circuit for the gun.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention comprises an improved electronically controlledpneumatically operated paintball gun having more efficient air usage bymeans of a pneumatic piston valve with a directional tube vent.

This pneumatic piston valve works on direct air pressure to open andclose it very quickly. The pneumatic piston valve has one moving partcalled the “piston valve”. The piston valve works as a double actingcylinder. At one end of the piston valve is a seal that presses upagainst a valve seat. When low pressure air is applied to the oppositeside of the piston valve assembly, the force created from air pressureforces the piston seal against the valve seat, closing a high-pressurechamber. When low pressure air is allowed to be released, force createdby air pressure shifts the valve and forces the seal away from the valveseat. When the valve is opened, air is released from the high pressurechamber into a directional tube positioned directly behind thepaintball, forcing the air to travel in a straight line before the airimpacts the paintball. After the ball has been fired, low-pressure airis again transferred back to the original side of the piston, forcingthe seal and valve seat closed once again. A pneumatic valve controlsthe flow of low-pressure air to the piston valve assembly. The timeneeded to transfer air through the pneumatic valve is completelyadjustable through a circuit board.

When the piston is inserted into the body of a paintball gun, three airchambers are created. Chamber No. 1 and No. 2 are for low pressure andchamber No. 3 is for high pressure. Chamber No. 1 is located at the rearof the piston valve assembly and is filled with low-pressure air. Thelow-pressure air creates a force relative to the area of the piston.This force is used to push the piston valve to it's forward mostposition, forcing a seal (attached to the opposite side of the pistonvalve) against a valve seat, sealing off chamber No. 3 filled with airunder high pressure. To open chamber No. 3 and release high-pressure airthrough the valve seat, low-pressure air is switched from chamber No. 1to chamber No. 2 forcing the piston valve and the seal in the oppositedirection and away from the valve seat. This creates a space between theseal and the valve seat allowing high-pressure air from chamber No. 3 toexit the chamber. In an alternative embodiment, movement of the pistonvalve is controlled using only low pressure chamber No. 1 and chamberNo. 2 is kept at ambient pressure throughout the firing cycle. In thisembodiment, the piston valve is closed when pressure is applied tochamber No. 1 and is opened when pressure is relieved from chamber No.1. An advantage of this embodiment is that less air is used foroperation of the gun and the shot to shot cycle time is reduced.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The aforementioned objects and advantages of the present invention, aswell as additional objects and advantages thereof, will be more fullyunderstood hereinafter as a result of a detailed description of apreferred embodiment when taken in conjunction with the followingdrawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic representation of a paintball gun according to apreferred embodiment of the invention in which a paintball is about tobe fired therefrom;

FIG. 2 is a schematic representation similar to FIG. 1, but showing thepreferred embodiment immediately after a paintball has been fired; and

FIG. 3 is a schematic representation similar to FIGS. 1 and 2, butshowing the preferred embodiment being loaded with another paintball forfiring.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Referring to the accompanying drawings, it will be seen that a paintballgun 10 comprises a body 12 and a handle 14, the former having acompressed gas source connection 15 and a regulator 17 for use with atank of compressed gas (not shown). A feed mechanism 16 feedsprojectiles (i.e., paintballs) 18 into a breech 20 one by one to bepropelled at high speed through a barrel 21. A bolt 23 controls themovement of paintballs 18 into the breech 20 and into barrel 21.

Operation of paintball gun 10 is by electronically controlled pneumaticvalves 33 and 35, including pneumatic propulsion of each projectile 18.Pneumatic propulsion of projectiles is accomplished by means of a pistonvalve assembly 22 which comprises a piston valve 24, low pressure gaschambers 26 and 28, high pressure gas chamber 30 and valve seat 25. Anelongated tube 32, preferably configured as a straight circularcylinder, interconnects the barrel 21 and the high pressure gas chamber30 depending upon the position of piston valve 24 relative to valve seat25.

The piston valve 24 is moveable between positions represented in FIGS. 1and 2. In FIG. 1, the piston valve is firmly seated against valve seat25 thereby closing off chamber 30 from tube 32. In this position, highpressure gas can flow into chamber 30 without being dissipated into thebreech 20. This position of piston valve 24 is effected by gas pressurein chamber 26. In FIG. 2, pressure in chamber 26 is relieved whichcauses piston valve 24 to move away from valve seat 25. Flow of gas atlow pressure into chamber 28 may be used to speed up valve 24 movement.This opening of the region between valve seat 25 and piston valve 24permits sudden release of high pressure gas from chamber 30 throughelongated tube 32 into bolt 23 thereby propelling a projectile 18through barrel 21 at high speed as depicted in FIG. 2. Bolt 23 is thenretracted by pneumatic cylinder 19 over tube 32 thereby permittinganother projectile 18 to drop into breech 20 for the next firing. Bolt23 is then extended to push the paintball into the barrel. Because bolt23 is a hollow tube which has a diameter that is larger than tube 32,bolt 23 does not obstruct flow of high pressure air into the barrel 21.

In FIG. 3, gas pressure in chamber 26 increases, piston valve 24 isreturned to its sealing position with the valve 24 again firmly seatedagainst valve seat 25. Pressure in chamber 30 begins to build for thenext firing cycle while the next projectile is loaded into breech 20from feed mechanism 16. The rate of the sequence of events representedin FIGS. 1-3 is controlled electronically.

In an alternative embodiment of the invention, pressure in chamber 26 isnot changed, but is instead kept at ambient. Closing of piston valve 24is accomplished by pressurizing chamber 28 as in the first embodiment.However, opening of piston valve 24 is effected by merely drainingchamber 28 and allowing the high pressure in chamber 30 to effectivelyforce open the piston valve. This alternative embodiment reduces airusage and reduces shot to shot cycle time by obviating the need topressurize and drain chamber 26. In effect, piston valve 24 iscontrolled by only one low pressure control chamber instead of two as inthe first embodiment.

Having thus disclosed preferred embodiments of the present invention,those having skill in the paintball gun art will now perceive numerousmodifications and additions which may be made to the describedembodiment. Accordingly, the scope hereof is not to be limited by theversion disclosed, but only by the appended claims and theirequivalents.

1. An electronically controlled paintball gun for pneumaticallypropelling a paintball projectile through a gun barrel toward a remotetarget; the gun comprising: an elongated tube aligned with said barrel;a high pressure air chamber having an outlet aligned with said tube fordirecting high pressure air through said tube for propelling saidpaintball; a piston configured for selectively opening and closing saidhigh pressure air chamber outlet; and a piston control chamber forcausing said piston to open and close said outlet depending on whetherpressure is applied to or released from said piston control chamber. 2.In a compressed-gas electronically controlled gun for firing paintballprojectiles through a barrel toward a remote target and having a breechaligned with the barrel for receiving each of the projectiles to befired, a piston valve assembly for controlling pressurized gas forloading and propelling the projectiles; the assembly comprising: anelongated tube aligned with said breech; a moveable piston positioned atan open end of said tube adjacent a valve seat at said tube end; a firstgas chamber for receiving gas under low pressure for moving said pistoninto engagement with said valve seat; a second gas chamber for receivinggas under high pressure while said piston is engaged with said valveseat; and a third gas chamber for receiving gas under low pressure formoving said piston away from said valve seat to suddenly release saidhigh pressure gas from said second gas chamber into said tube to propelsaid projectile out of said breech and through said barrel.
 3. Theassembly recited in claim 2 wherein said first, second and third gaschambers are controlled by an electronic actuator.
 4. The assemblyrecited in claim 2 wherein said piston has a seal for engaging saidvalve seat.
 5. The assembly recited in claim 2 further comprising apneumatic valve for controlling gas flow into said first and third gaschambers.
 6. The assembly recited in claim 5 wherein the time requiredto transfer gas into said first and third gas chambers may be adjusted.7. The assembly recited in claim 2 wherein said gas comprises air. 8.The assembly recited in claim 2 wherein said tube is a circularcylinder.
 9. An electronically controlled paintball gun forpneumatically propelling a paintball projectile through a gun barreltoward a remote target; the gun comprising: an elongated tube alignedwith said barrel; a high pressure air chamber having an outlet alignedwith said tube for directing high pressure air through said tube forpropelling said paintball; a piston configured for selectively openingand closing said high pressure air chamber outlet; and at least onepiston control chamber for causing said piston to open and close saidoutlet depending upon whether said piston control chamber is filled withor drained of pressurized air.
 10. The paintball gun recited in claim 9further comprising a pneumatic valve for controlling air flow into saidpiston control chamber.
 11. The paintball gun recited in claim 9 whereinsaid pneumatic valve is actuated electronically.